This invention relates to a disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus having the disc exchange function. More particularly, it relates to a disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which a plurality of discs housed by means of sub-trays in a housing unit within a main member of the apparatus are selectively taken out by a transfer mechanism along with the sub-trays and the disc set on the sub-tray thus taken out is loaded on the disc recording/reproducing unit for recording/reproducing information signals on or from the disc.
There has hitherto been proposed a disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus with a disc exchange function, having a housing unit for housing sub-trays for setting the optical discs thereon in a plurality of tiers in the main member of the apparatus, a transfer mechanism for pulling out the sub-tray housed within the housing unit along with the optical disc, a main tray for setting the sub-tray pulled out by the transfer mechanism, and a lift mechanism for uplifting or lowering the main tray in a direction normal to the disc surface of the optical disc housed within the housing unit for loading the disc on a recording/reproducing unit mounted within the main member of the apparatus.
With such disc recording/reproducing apparatus, the transfer mechanism for pulling out the sub-trays having the optical discs set thereon from the housing section and the lift mechanism for lifting the main tray having the sub-tray set thereon, are adapted to be driven using respective separate driving means, thus complicating the structure and increasing the size of the mechanism.